The art of Self-Realization *Right behaviour for your body and mind *
My Grand Master Sri Yukteswar ji would always say, “Learn to behave.” Three simple words are these, but a vast spectrum of meaning, as we can see. Let us understand. The world is our extended Self. If I want to get along with others, I must first learn to get along with myself. Now, to get along with myself, I have to know myself - or shall we say, I must know my Self? Most of us are ’strangers’ unto ourselves - how can one get along with a ’stranger’? In the scriptures of my motherland, India, we compare human beings with a chariot with 5 horses. The 5 sense-faculties (seeing, tasting, hearing, smelling and touching) are the 5 steeds, wayward and unruly, running amuck towards the sense-objects. To control them, we have a rein, which is our sensory mind. It is called the lower mind (manas) because its domain is just two-fold, “I like it” and “I don’t like it.” It is pleasure-driven, being sense-enslaved. The rein is necessary but not enough. There must be an able charioteer to hold fast the reins. He is our higher mind - the reason, the discerning or discriminating faculty. It is called buddhi in Sanskrit. Its domain extends to deciding whether what is pleasant is also good, and whether the unpleasant things the lower (sensory) mind is rejecting could actually be good for us. The creamy cake may look temptingly pleasant to the diabetic, but reason tells him it is bad. Early morning walks look so unpleasant, so unthinkable, but if you make it, you are empowered by discriminating reason, that which eventually benefits you. When anger comes on, you want to slap the other person, but reason tells you to hold. Let us see what right behavior means at various levels of our being - physical, mental, emotional, intellectual & spiritual, etc. Continue<http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/the-art-of-self-realization/> http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/the-art-of-self-realization/ best regards *[email protected] * -- Who is Panna Lal? <http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/who-is-panna-lal/>
